Crying Freeman, Vol. 1

クライング・フリーマン [Crying Freeman] #1

by Ryōichi Ikegami (Illustrator), Kazuo Koike

He is Yo Himomura, deadly assassin for the 108 Dragons, the Chinese Mafia. But to the criminal underworld who fear him, he is known as Crying Freeman, the killer who sheds tears at the fate of his victims. Young, handsome, sensitive, an artist, Yo has been hypnotically programmed by his Dragon masters to kill on he cannot resist his masters'commands to kill, his masters cannot stop his tears of remorse.

Written by the legendary Kazuo Koike, creator of  Lone Wolf and Cub , and illustrated by the incomparable Ryoichi Ikegami,  Crying Freeman  is adult manga at its most dark, violent, morally complex, erotically charged, and regarded worldwide as one of the classics of adult graphic fiction. Dark Horse Manga is proud to present  Crying Freeman,  yet another of the jewels in the crown of manga classics, presented in its original right-to-left reading orientation.

FOR MATURE READERS

Genres: Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Crime, Thriller, Action

408 pages, Paperback

First published October 28, 1989

About the author

Ryōichi Ikegami (池上遼一) is a manga artist. He was assistant to manga artist Shigeru Mizuki in 1966. In 2001, he won the Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga as the artist of Heat. He became a professor at Osaka University of Arts in 2005.

Ikegami has worked on several popular series, such as Mai, the Psychic Girl with writer Kazuya Kudo, Crying Freeman, with writer Kazuo Koike, as well as Sanctuary and Heat with writer Sho Fumimura. He also wrote and drew Spider-Man: The Manga, a manga version of Spider-Man and collaborated with Garon Tsuchiya for the manga BOX (BOX 暗い箱). His most recent work is Lord currently serialized in Big Comic Superior.

Reviews

[Jedi JC Daquis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although Crying Freeman is not at par with Kazuo Koike's obra maestra The Lone Wolf and Cub (god that series is just amazing), I throughly enjoyed reading this as a guilty pleasure material.

Crying Freeman's protagonist is Yo Hinomura, a talented, kind and morally untarnished man who got into a series of unfortunate encounters with The 108 Dragons; and with acupuncture and training from really old people, he ultimately became the mafia's top assassin. But after each kill, he is filled with guilt and remorse, something that makes him cry, hence Crying Freeman.

I said it is a guilty pleasure read. The material is filled with violence, sex and murder. The plot is what you expect from a mafia-assassin genre: kill contracts, love interest, training, murder and guns. Ryoichi Ikegami perfectly captures all these in his art style which is so detailed and alive. His drawings of cars, buildings and inanimate objects are exact and his characters are full of emotions.

If you are looking for an adult manga about modern mafia and assassinations then look no more. Here's Crying Freeman.

[MischaS_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jednoduché - chtěla bych umět takhle malovat! Jinak se do dalších dílů asi hodně brzo zase pustím, protože jednoduché cesta jak relaxovat. Ani jsem si nevšimla, jak jsem to stihla dočíst ;)

[Michaela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moja prvá manga kniha, resp. komix, ktorý sa čítal vemi zaujímavo, odzadu. Inak, príbeh je ľahko predvídateľná detektívka (o zabijakovi, ktorý je plače vždy, keď niekoho zabije), páčilo sa mi aj čierno-biele prevedenie, s trochou erotiky /miestami vycenzurovanej/, ale začiatky kapitol sú úžasne ilustrované.

[Alexander Engel-Hodgkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.9/5

This was a fun if slightly awkward little B-movie in manga form. I've seen the anime adaptation some time ago (it was silly but enjoyable) and so far, the manga is only a slight improvement over that.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. Like I already said, I found the anime version enjoyable. Is it ridiculous and cheesy? Yes. Is it loaded with more sex, violence, and nudity than necessary? Of course! I don't mind that kinda thing at all, if it contributes to the plot or the charm of an old crime classic like this. Especially when the artwork is as good as Ryoichi Ikegami's work in this is. I've read a few manga rendered by Ikegami now (the others being Strain and Sanctuary) and if anything, he's consistent in his skill. He went above and beyond for Strain, utilizing photorealism for the environments and character designs in an effort I found to be admirable and skillful, but completely wasted on that storyline. In Freeman, he's using a more simplistic style that is arguably easier on the eyes. Every page flows gracefully. Every detail and shadow is effectively rendered. The man is an artistic god.

Koike's work I am also familiar with. I've seen many film adaptations of his work (Lady Snowblood, the Lone Wolf and Cub series), and I've read the entirety of the Lone Wolf and Cub manga (which is absolutely brilliant and one of the greatest manga of all time).

To measure Crying Freeman to Koike's magnum opus would be unfair and a disservice to Freeman. This is clearly Koike just having a little fun, and for now, I'm on board with it.

[Charles Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like SAMURAI GIRL, I first saw CRYING FREEMAN in its anime form. A few years ago, I got my mitts on the first two volumes of the manga CRYING FREEMAN published stateside by Dark Horse. The anime streamlined much of the story and made it less complex for viewers in comparison to the manga original, which I can enlighten you to here. For those who don't know the story, mix SCARFACE and THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, add a strong dose of ROMEO AND JULIET, and you'll get a sense of what you're in for!

The story begins in Japan, where young beauty Emu Hino suddenly has her life transformed forever when she witnesses the murder of a crimelord and his thugs. The killer is a handsome, quiet man who immediately begins to weep the moment his bloody work is done. He tells the girl his name is Yo, and then he leaves. Fearing rightly that the killer will return one day to murder her because she was a witness, Emu also realizes that she's falling in love with Yo...she never had a lover in her life, and if he's going to kill her, then she will want him to take her virginity first!

From there we're taken on a complex, dangerous and blood-drenched ride through the international criminal underworld and we discover how Yo came to be an assassin. He was once a rising artist before he stumbled upon evidence of the murder of a man by the Chinese mafia organization called The 108 Dragons. Committed to turning the evidence over to the police, Yo ignored both threats to his life and bribes. But somehow realizing Yo had the qualities and potential to be the perfect killer, The 108 Dragons captured him and used acupuncture and hypnotic techniques to program him into becoming their unwilling puppet. In a harsh irony, they give him the code name Freeman. But even from the beginning, in spite of his conditioning to obey his masters completely, he still can't help but cry with remorse when he kills his assigned target.

I'm not spoiling things saying so much about CRYING FREEMAN, since all of that happens in the first part of Volume One, the first of five huge books! The story is an intricate one, and highly stylish in a way that reminded me of the TV series MIAMI VICE. (No coincidence the manga began in the late 80's!) It turns out Freeman's fate isn't quite worse than death, though. We come to discover how once and for all he became part of The 108 Dragons by his own grudging choice -- and no, I won't spoil that! -- and we're shown not only what kind of rigorous training he went through to become a truly peerless killer, but how he earned is iconic dragon tattoo. We also discover why a Chinese criminal organization chose a Japanese artist to become their greatest assassin...and possibly even The 108 Dragons' future leader! The reader can't help but feel for Freeman as we follow him each step of the way on this bloody road, though; we want to root for him and Emu as their love story develops. The supporting cast is just as engaging...like Freeman's masters, the elderly yet nearly mystical Father Dragon and Mother Tiger, and enemies that range from the beautiful and ruthless Kimie Hanada to (in the second volume) the child-like yet lethal Bai-Ya Shan!

The first and second volumes are engrossing and have a brisk pace (a good thing because the books are thick!), thanks to the excellent writing of Kazuo Koike. And I can't praise the art of Ryoichi Ikegami enough, which ranks up there with the very, very best...you won't be able to take your eyes off the pages because of his gorgeous, almost photo-real style. It's a strange kind of crime story, more like a modern and very violent fairy tale about star-crossed lovers and how they came to be in each other's arms. It's a dark world where its central character was a good man who discovers it's his fate to never be free...but can he at least find happiness with the woman he loves? That's what makes CRYING FREEMAN so captivating to me, and I'm sure it'll do the same for you!

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was good then and good now. The series and characters were well scripted and developed and I enjoyed re-reading the series again. This was the Assassin two enjoyed before Bourne and Rapp.

[Neko~chan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read this summer after senior year of high school and I just remember being weirded out by the masculinity displays here. Also the portrayal of Chinese people. They’re mafia but still, lmao, let’s tone down the magical thinking a bit.

[Vicente Ribes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primer tomo de este manga clásico donde un chico es secuestrado mentalmente por una mafia. El chico tiene dotes innatas para el asesinato y será el sicario involuntario de la asociación criminal ascendiendo poco a poco en ella.
Poco después se enamorará de una chica a la que debería matar, ya que ha visto su cara. Pero será incapaz de hacerlo y luchará por salvarla y salir de la mafia.
Un dibujo precioso.

[karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kazuo Koike should’ve just stopped after Vol.1 because it, quite literally, goes downhill from there. Good art though, I’ll give him that

2/5

[Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one so much I barely put it down. This is my first manga experience, and it gave such good impression with all the illustrations and the plot-line. There’s balance between action and eroticism, effectively conveying an intense atmosphere.

Looking forward to reading volume 2.

[Rick Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yo Himomura is the most lethal assassin under the employ of a Chinese organized crime outfit known as the 108 Dragons, but is more better known by his moniker - the "Crying Freeman". Turns out Yo is a bit of a "Manchurian Candidate"/"Winter Soldier"-type of assassin who is hypnotically controlled by the 108 Dragons to carry out their dirty work. Yo sheds tears for his victims clearly indicating that he is cognizant of his actions even though he is compelled to carry out assassinations. In this volume, Yo's latest assignment is to carry out a hit on a tortured Japanese artist who witnessed a murder. However, instead of carrying out the job, Yo is able to resist and the two fall in love and attempt to escape the mob.

The story is quite absurd at times, almost to the point of parody, but it was pretty fun to read overall. The romance aspects are also kind of goofy and a bit contrived, and it compounds how silly the whole book is since the entire premise rests on the strength of this romance. The action is pretty engaging though and allows the story to move at a brisk enough pace that Crying Freeman does not get stale (at least for this first volume). Ryoichi Ikegami's artwork nails the 80's B movie aesthetic that fits the vibe of this book, so if you're into those kinds of films this is the manga for you.

[David Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crying Freeman manga arrived in the United States in the early 1990's and took the country by storm. I was very fortunate to purchase the first edition of this beautifully drawn and written manga created by writer Kazuo Koike and illustrated by a brilliant manga artist Ryoichi Ikegami. This crime saga tells an incredible story of a young artists named Yo, who is recruited into the ranks of the Chinese Mafia against his will. Hypnotized to follow their commands, he becomes a gifted assassin who sheds tears for his victims when the killer spell is released. Tasked to murder a beautiful female witness to his latest crime, the killer for the first time in his career refuses to pull the trigger and later falls in love with his intended target. This is a story that makes the reader root for the main protagonist all the way. Beautifully drawn and presented with skill and daring, Crying Freeman Volume 1 will entertain you from first page to the last.

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not without some regret that I give this a two star rating. The first third I really enjoyed and I thought maybe I'd finally found a manga I would enjoy. And then it suddenly went from being an engaging story to nothing but smut, full of twists designed seemingly for no reason beyond finding an excuse to show more naked women. The first sex scene was excellent, I did enjoy it, tenderly and beautifully illustrated (the quality of the art is the one consistent high point). But then it degenerated and lost any purpose. They seemed to be working overtime to find yet more ridiculous directions to take the story, from the Olympic athletic 99 year old assassin to the tattoo artist who gets raped for failing to kill Crying Freeman. I can't imagine how much worse the next volumes will be and I don't expect I'll ever find out.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well this is a monster of a book. I had grown up knowing what Crying Freeman is and having seen some of the anime, but it was always something taboo and overly adult for the kid that I was at the time. Thanks for a generous Humble Bundle, I can finally get into this series for real.

The art style of the series is really what defines its visual and emotional tone. The level of detail is kind of insane and both our protagonists Hinomura/Freeman and Hino are both depicted so beautifully that it's almost surreal.

This volume sets up the story of Freeman where we first encounter him on one of his assassination missions and later learn about his backstory through flashbacks. Hino gets pulled into things by witnessing one of his missions and him deciding to try to spare her life. You know this is going to be a lingering complication potentially for the rest of the series.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is the epitome of "you'll either love it or hate it". The plot? Absurd. The art? Amazing and definitely the highlight of this series (and any manga with Ikegami at the helm).

If you approach this series expecting the same level of grandiose that Koike offered us with LW&C, you will be very disappointed. If you come in with measured expectations and treat it as satire, you'll have a great time. It's an irreverent, pulpy classic that deserves a read if you're interested in silly 80s action flick satire, but in a manga. Freeman is a larger than life character, and the plot matches his persona.

It's been published by Viz & Dark Horse, with both being very out of print. I'd recommend the Dark Horse release, as it has an updated translation and reads right to left.

[Pavlína · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jakožto takový menší „jakuzofilik“ jsem spokojena. Z komiksu jdou hned vidět osmdesátá léta, takže akce, erotika, jasňačka. Na mě ty „erotiky“ bylo ke konci moc, ale co mám čekat od „komiksu pro dospělé“ založenýho na příběhu gangsterů.

Zaujalo mě zpracování, co se sazby (letteringu/cleaningu?) týče. V současných komiksech je zvukomalba hezky přepsána česky, tady je jen rámeček pod s významem. Což mi vnuklo myšlenu, že třeba ty nové komiksy už posílají ve vrstvách a není takový problém to přepsat. Tuze zajímavé.

[Vladimir · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dropped it after finishing volume one (out of five). Writing was just painfully bad: the childish romance, assassin's recruitment/origin story, dialogues, and everything else - just uhh. I liked the drawing style though.
Crying Freeman manga has been on my to-read list for quite a few years since watching the film adaptation by Christophe Gans. I enjoyed it a lot and remember it as a stylish atmospheric comic-book movie centered around a love story. Without Gans' direction the source material is mediocre at best.

3.0/10

[Bear Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gorgeous art and a decent story that was, sadly, marred by Dark Horse’s decision to reverse the pages to reverse them for the American release. Had the panels been fully cut & pasted so the reading order was left to right, it would have been fine. But this chopped up job of left to right pages with right to left panels is jarring every time. There was even an instance of a two page spread being hacked up and put in out of order. Really disappointing.

[Davide Pappalardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crying Freeman é un’opera potente intrisa di sesso e violenza, ma dotata di una poetica cruda che pervade tanto il racconto, quanto gli splendidi disegni. Un assassino bellissimo che piange dopo ogni omicidio, gli intrighi della triade e della yakuza, ispettori determinati, arti marziali ed abilità inverosimili, donne stupende e anche spietate: i topoi di un certo tipo di manga di fine anni ‘80/inizio ‘90 ci sono tutti, ma qui il tutto ha un quid superiore che porta il manga negli annali.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

So it begins...

Emu Hino was preparing her death in the hands of Mr. Yo aka Crying Freeman. It was because she witnessed the killing. And also she became fascinated by him. When he showed up,the two made love instead of assassination. Their relationship got complicated by the Yakuza and the cops. Yo tried to get rid of her but couldn’t, he was only human.

[Nela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ke knize bych se zřejmě nikdy nedostala, kdybych nebyla na táboře a nedošlo mi čtení. A tak jsem si z nudy a ze zvědavosti přečetla svou první mangu, kterou jsem si vypůjčila od mé kamarádky a spolubydlící - Áji Peckové.
Kniha se četla strašně rychle a na japonský styl psaní jsem si zvykla okamžitě. Příběh byl strašná shitka, ale zabavilo mě to, takže hádám, že kniha svůj účel splnila.

[Sean Holtom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the age of this story, it still felt like an original premise on this genre.

The art was very good, I loved accuracy of all the early 80s cars.

A lot of fairly realistic nudity but generally blurred below the waist. I certainly never expected to see a naked 99 year old woman like this...

Very quick read.

[Niche · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pulpy to the point of almost parody, Crying Freeman follows the crime noir exploits of the eponymous assassin for the Chinese mafia. Near superhuman physique, irresistibility to women, and sci-fi hypnosis techniques turned him into their premier assassin. Saturated with tough gangsters, corrupt cops, and naked women swooning, it checks most clichés for the genre.

[Nathaniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Koike has a lot of work to recommend him, start with Lone Wolf and Cub.

This has a very detectable 80s popular portrayal of drug kingpins, mobs, and that whole seedy underlife. It's a little giggle inducing.

Given space the art is fantastic. Given limitations, and there is a lot limitations the art is not so good.

I'm unsure about continuing. I think I want the giggles.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great character twist of the ruthless, preprogrammed assassin who seems indestructible. I've vol 2 to fall back on to continue with. Not a great deal of depth to the plot, but it does move at pace, jolted along with the things that the parental advisory label warns you about.

[Liz Thoth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Instead of the dark horse format, I read this in single issues. #1-8 The artwork is large and you can see every detail. The story is amazing so far. Exactly what I love in Manga. It is a shame that the smaller editions don’t do justice for the artwork.

[Francisco Vazquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's already a great start to the series. I've always loved organized crime in my literature and now it's exciting to read it in manga. It's a real page-turner and never expect to read 400 pages this quick. I'm excited to see what the rest of the series has to offer.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely ridiculous and ridiculously hot

[Donyae Coles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this because I saw the live action movie years ago. This is a lot more . . . fun than the movie!

[Ondřej Hotovec · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detektivka, s lehce erotickým nádechem. Bohužel knížka je dost krátká, cca 1 hodina čtení.